Levi Sassafras Hardegree

It's time for another Hardegree update, this time about Levi. You guys are all up to date on his health issues, so this will just be the fun stuff. Just like his momma, Levi is getting pretty sassy, but usually it's so funny that it's nothing to worry about. From what I've gathered, he's a lot more laid back than other 2-year-olds so his terrible twos really just aren't. But let's be real, most of y'all know this already, so let's get to the fun stuff.

Hobbies: collecting rocks (he has several "rock collections" scattered throughout both our front and back yards), singing songs (sometimes changing the words to popular tunes just like his daddy), reading books, helping mommy cook, jumping in place (he can get some air now!), jumping on the bed (ugh...), helping with chores, bonking his head on things, and making sticker pictures.

Interests: Lincoln, cars, construction vehicles, big trucks, bugs, dirt clods, food, animals, selfies, music, the digestive system (he likes me to tell him where food goes...from beginning to end), and why questions (a lot of why questions). 

Levi can now give rockin' high fives, draw a mad circle, make play-doh waffles, and play original songs on the piano. He likes to pick out his own clothes, and I took a picture of a classic Levi outfit for y'all below. He also loves to dance, and to facilitate these dance parties, he makes several song requests (usually for the same song over and over again). Here's are some of the songs Levi has been requesting lately:

• Headstrong - Trapt (I know, I know...)
• Cells - They Might be Giants
• Thank You Very Much - Scrooge Soundtrack
• Inside Out - Eve6
• Y'all Ready for This - Space Jam Soundtrack
• Watching Over Me - On the Rocks (definitely his favorite song!)
• On My Way Home - Pentatonix
• Miss You - Blink 182
• Black Hole Sun - Sound Garden
• Here Comes the Sun - The Beatles
• Happy Little Ditty - Shirley Temple
• I Know What You Did Last Summer - Shawn Mendes
• Rockin' Robin - The Jackson 5
• Jump in the Line - Harry Belafonte
• Anything by Pentatonix (He'll just say that he wants to listen to Pentatonix)

As far as developmental stuff goes, he is starting to be able to take his own shorts off, he can use his own napkin to wipe off his hands and face, he can pour cereal into a bowl, he can drink out of normal people cups without too much spilling, and he's really interested in using the big boy potty now. We're planning on doing the 3-day potty training method, so until Justin can have some time off for us to do that, we've started having him go potty in his froggy potty as part of his bedtime routine. 

And now...the pictures:

Check out the outfit...the tank top has a shark on the front. He wouldn't stand up for me to get a picture since we were waiting outside of story time and he was being bashful.

In other news...we have a raised garden in our backyard now!! Justin built it and then we both filled it with soil. Then I transplanted all our plants, added some manure and plant food, and put eggshells around the edges to keep out snails and slugs (because boy do we have a lot of those). Unfortunately, a squirrel dug out one of my rosemary plants, and then when I planted more seeds and refilled the hole, it came back and dug them out again. I don't know what that's about, especially since there's another one on the other end of the bed that he hasn't touched, but it's been a little irritating. Other than that though, we haven't had any pest problems so far, which is awesome. Here are some pics:

I know it's kind of hard to see, but we've got 4 hearty cilantro plants there are the bottom, some basil and thyme in the middle, some parsley running along the top, a sweet pea plant on the far left and a green bean plant on the top right. The rosemary plant is on the far right, but it's tiny still...

I also planted marigolds in the each of the corners to help get rid of bad bugs and attract bug-eating birds, so each corner has a sprinkling of sprouts as well. 

Finally, I've started another batch of seedlings because I'll be thinning out the plants in the garden soon and will have room for more (I mean...I really don't need 4 cilantro plants, so survival of the fittest my friends). The bottom row is Zinnias which I will be planting around the base of our mailbox, and then I have oregano and peppers in the rest. Yay!!

Speaking of mailboxes, Justin put in a new mailbox! Our old one was beige (ewww...) and super tilted. I painted our new one Meringue by Behr. Just picture this with giant Zinnias blooming all around the bottom. Super pretty!

You may be wondering, "But Annelise, why would you paint the mailbox yellow if that's not the color of your house?" Because it will be!! Haha! We've finally got a plan for the exterior of our house and it's gonna be awesome. As we do stuff I'll post it (obviously). 

Our Little 9-Month-Old

Like I said the other night, I'm going to write a little post about each of the Hardegrees so you can see what's going on with each of us without having to read a novel, so...today is Lincoln's day!

First of all, I just want to point out that on Saturday he will officially be nine months old! Whoa! I wish he would stay the soft, squishy, cuddly little muffin that he is now, but alas, time moves on and babies become toddlers. I'm sad to see him getting bigger, but I'm excited to watch him grow more independent and develop that little personality of his.

As with all babies, Lincoln is meeting little milestones all the time, so here's a quick run-through of some of the new stuff he can do, plus a tooth count:

• He now has 6, count 'em, 6 teeth! He's got two full-size teeth on the bottom and then 4 teeth on the top in different states of emerging. He is a vampire baby no more!
• He's not crawling yet, but he's definitely getting closer. He can stay up on all fours and shift his weight back and forth. He can also lift one arm with a toy in it while in the crawl position (think of a one-handed push-up, baby style). Plus, the other day he went from sitting to a crawl(ish) position and then back to sitting, so ya. He's getting close.
• He's really starting to copy sounds. He'll make an S sound with me and little toot sounds with his tongue. He also tried to say Moo when I showed him a cow, so that was pretty much awesome.
• Also, Lincoln turned all the pages in a book all by himself!! He went from no pages to acting like it weren't no thang. Get it boy! 
• He has also started eating little teething wafers (think rice-puff cookies) for a midday snack which means he's ready for other finger foods! I'm still mostly feeding him with a spoon, but his foods are getting a little thicker and I may try to put some soft roasted sweet potato cubes in front of him to see if he eats it. 
• Last, but definitely not least - he can full-on belly laugh now! :-D

Overall, he's getting to be such a big boy!! Here are some pics of the super sweet little sugar booger.

Me in the Kitchen

Ugh! It's been so long since I posted! This past week was INSANE and I just couldn't bring myself to take some time to write anything. Justin's big work event was this past Saturday so things are going to be getting back to normal. There's so much I want to write about but I don't want to have a super long post, so I guess I'll just post an update on one of the Hardegrees at a time. I just hope that I don't get too busy/forgetful to keep this up for the next few days.

I'll start with me since...well...why not? My mom gave me this great book that I think everyone should read/own: Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook by Dana Gunders. Now, I know I'm more of an eco-hippie than your average joe, but this book seriously is a must read. I've mentioned before that I'm starting our veggie patch and that I want to start canning and whatnot, but this book helped me take that to the next level. For example, if I don't think we're going to eat all of the leftovers from a meal before it goes bad, then I'll put it in serving size containers, label them, and stick them in the freezer. Now Justin can just grab a frozen meal if he's in a hurry and take it to work for lunch. I don't know why we didn't think of this before, but it's been working really well, and it's saved us from throwing out a lot of food.

I also recently watched the documentary Cooked on Netflix, which again, everyone should watch, and it inspired me to make even more changes in the kitchen. So last week I made homemade picante sauce (which is delicious!!) and I started making my own chicken broth again. I have also started subbing out processed ingredients in recipes that I already use for homemade ones, and let me tell you, things taste so much better that way! Yes it takes more work and more time, but it's totally worth it to have better tasting food that is 100% food (i.e. no weird chemicals). Plus, Cooked convinced me that it's good for my boys to see me, and help me, in the kitchen. Levi has really gotten into helping me in the kitchen. I made taco melts the other day and he helped me stuff and fold them. Later in the week he stood on a chair and watched me make brown gravy and then helped me roll out the pie crusts for a ground beef pot pie. I don't know, but we may have a little chef on our hands.

As you can see from the first picture, he ate the ingredients while we were making the taco melts. Including plain flour which is just gross, but whatever. He was super proud of the fact that he helped me cook and now he asks to help or watch anytime I'm in the kitchen. 

In other news, my herb sprouts are still going strong! Justin is in the process of building a raised veggie patch in the backyard, so I'll post pictures when we get it all set up. It would have already been done, but it's been raining so we have to wait...whomp whomp. 

Alright, that's all for me right now. I'll post another update tomorrow maybe (?) on one of the boys with lots of pics!

Levi's Echo Adventure and Such

I think I'm going to petition President Obama to officially declare April The Month of Insanity and Bludgeoning Exhaustion because goodness. Justin's wrapping up his semester which means reading, papers, and stress, on top of the fact that this month his job takes a ride on the crazy train with big events, countless student interviews, and rallies. With Justin working long hours and doing homework (or more work-work) at home, I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to keep our house modestly clean and our boys alive with less Justin help than usual. Kudos to single parents. Good grief! On top of all this, Lincoln has entered full-on teething mode, which means sleeping has become an adventure as well. So, in summary, fun times at House Hardegree! (I know you're all jealous!)

So amidst all of the chaos, Levi had a follow-up doctor's appointment with a pediatric cardiologist in Temple on Thursday to see if there have been any changes in the function or structure of his heart. After an EKG, an Echo, and another poke for blood work, Levi's heart looks normal! YAY! His platelet count was back down to normal and his inflammation levels have stabilized, so he's in great shape. We're going to go back for another follow-up in about 3 months, but this was great news!! Also, Levi was super brave the whole time we were there. He was extremely cooperative and he only whimpered a little bit when they stuck him with a needle, after which, he sat quietly and watched his blood fill up the vial. Justin and I were both so proud of him.

Lincoln also decided to practice some gymnastics. He got into this position on his own. Haha!

In the spirit of almost all of my previous posts, there will now follow a quick succession of photographs taken over the last week so you can see what we've been up to.

Play-doh time! Levi has been super into play-doh lately, and of course Lincoln's down to join in because it's something new for him to try and eat. 

Just a little proof that the whole sleeping thing has been a little bumpy lately, here's Lincoln at about 9:45PM being soothed by my dad while I finished baking a cake for my friend Christin's bridal shower the next day (which was really great by the way). 

With all the great weather we've been having, the boys and I have been spending a lot of time outside. Levi usually won't cooperate with me when I try to take pictures of him outside, probably because it interrupts his hunt for colorful rocks for his collection, but here are some sweet pictures of Turkey #2.

The other day we went shopping at Target and Levi got to ride in the big part of the cart! Hey-O! I started out carrying Lincoln in my moby, but it was really hot in the store (??) so I decided to let Levi move to the front of the cart so Lincoln could ride too. Levi's response when I asked him if he wanted to sit there: "Ooo ya!! This is SUPER COOL! Woohoo!" He then continued to cheer throughout the rest of our time at Target, when he wasn't busy pointing out all of the stuff we "needed" to buy of course.

Ok...these are just some fun, cute pics of Lincoln. Haha! 

I mean come on...

Sleep hair!

Finally, Levi has been wanting to take lots of selfies lately, and while I'm mildly ashamed that he knows what that is, they make for some fun pictures. I will end this post with a heartfelt welcome to Selfie City...

This eventually turned into a kiss for Mommy! The best!